Spinach and Paneer Pie

Yesterday was the first really cold, autumnal day we’ve had so far. So what better to eat than a pie?! I also have the lovely excuse to spend the afternoon baking because my only lecture of the day was cancelled!

I was a bit scared about making the puff pastry, but it was actually quite easy, and tasted absolutely amazing! I followed Michel Roux’s rough puff pastry recipe, but didn’t add as much water as he suggests because my pastry was getting really wet- but if you think you need the whole 100ml then go ahead!

I always get saag paneer when we get an Indian takeaway, so thought I’d try my hand at making something similar, especially now that I live in London and not a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, and can actually buy paneer cheese from the supermarket! The mix between classic British stodge and Indian spices is really nice!

Ingredients

Pastry-

200g plain flour

200g butter

75ml ice cold water (original recipe says 100ml)

dash of salt

Filling-

260g uncooked spinach

4 tomatoes

3/4 of a packet of paneer cheese (apparently it’s really easy to make yourself too if you can’t get it in the shop!)

100ml double cream

1 white onion

2 cloves garlic

1 chilli

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon curry powder

1/4 teaspoon cumin

Method-

Weigh out the flour and salt into a bowl, then add the butter (which should be cubed and really cold!). Mix the butter into the flour with your hands, but don’t make breadcrumbs. Stop mixing when the butter is in smaller cubes, and some has combined (look at the photo to  see when I stopped!)

Slowly add the cold water, and mix the dough until it comes together into a ball. Wrap in cling film and pop into the fridge for 20 minutes.

Roll the pastry into a rectangle, then fold into thirds (bring the top third down, then the bottom third up). Give it a quarter turn. then roll out into a rectangle again, and fold again into thirds. Wrap it in cling film and pop it back into the fridge for half an hour.

After the half hour, take the pastry out of the fridge, and complete the steps above, rolling out into a rectangle and fold into thirds twice more. Then put it back into the fridge for another half hour and it’s ready to go!

I would start making the filling while the pastry is resting in the fridge.

Start by gently frying the onions, chopped paneer, garlic, chilli, paprika, curry powder and cumin until the onions are soft.

Then add the tomatoes (which have been chopped), and the spinach, which has been chopped into smaller pieces.

Once the spinach has wilted add the double cream and leave to simmer for half an hour.

Grease a 20cm pie tin.

Cut off two-thirds of the pastry, and roll into a circle an inch bigger than the base of the tin. Roll the   pastry over your rolling pin and place in the greased tin. Line the pastry with foil, add baking beans (or what you’re using as a substitute) and blind bake for 12 minutes at 200 degrees.

While the pastry is blind baking, roll out the remaining third of pastry into a circle for the lid.

Remove the pastry, and take the baking beans out. Add the filling, and then place the pastry lid on   top. Work quickly because the butter in the pastry will be melting! With your thumb and finger, pinch the lid and the pastry together. Cut a small slit in the middle of the pastry lid, and the pop into the oven at 200 degrees for 12-15 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown.